. >> reporter: after the debate, romney is within two points of the president. and tomorrow, both candidates head to ohio, battleground ohio, where early voting is already under way. tomorrow is the last day to register to vote there. veronica? >> thank you. mitt romney will deliver that major policy speech before noon eastern, but the obama campaign is issuing a preemptive strike with this new tv ad criticizing the republican candidate's past foreign policy faux pas. take a look. >> reckless. amateurish. that's what news media and fellow republicans called mitt romney's gaffe-filled july tour of england, israel, and poland, when our u.s. diplomats were attacked in libya, "the new york times" said romney's response showed an extraordinary lack of presidential character. >> the obama campaign said this will be romney's seventh speech on foreign policy. >>> venezuelan president hugo chavez gets to keep his job for another seven years, but his re-election came in the slimmest margin ever in his nearly 14 years in power. he won just 54% of the vote. actor danny glover, a longtime supporter of ch

important in modern presidential politics. both the romney and the obama campaigns are out stumping tonight. mitt romney and president obama have 50 possible states to fight over. they have nine or so swing states that seem to actually be in play. tonight mitt romney and barack obama are both in just one state. mr. romney appearing with chris christie and rob portman in akron, ohio. the president showing up with will.i.am. >> buckeyes, we need you. we need you fired up. >> ohio is going to elect me the next president of the united states. >> all the interest in competing in ohio, the desperate need to win the election in ohio, the dualing rallies and the ground games, all that comes from the context of a big surprising decision in ohio this afternoon. about how the election is going to be run there this year. back in 2004, the night that the democratic ticket decided not to concede the race on election night because they were waiting on results. part of what was happening in '04 was this. these horrendous epic lines for ohio voters. they waited ten hours and more in ohio in 2004 to

-- i think you can do both. i think romney is doing both and romney -- watching him right now is watching him go through the different phases of romney, 509s shades of romney shall we say. >> that's exactly what they have thought. so people have talked about this a lot. the notion of they were kind of a fork in the road in the spring. do we want to run against him as a flip flopping phony or run against -- coreless, their pitch before, or do we want to cast him as a right wing radical. they seemed to and did make a decision to do right wing radical and one on throughout. i talked about david plouffe about this in may and he said we're going do both when we have to. we're going to say mitt romney there he goes trying to flip flop, coreless a phony, but not forget where he actually is, and then this is -- we're going to keep trying to pin him back to these positions he's taken. i think they have been horrible since the debate, the obama campaign. they are -- jon ward understates the degree to which they are knocked off guard and they are flailing right now and the stuff they're say

59% now, including an 11-point gain in just the past two weeks. both the romney and obama campaigns are expressing concern about the moderator of tuesday's second presidential debate. candy crowley of cnn will be hosting the debate, and she suggested that she'll play a larger role than agreed to by the candidates. according to mark hallpren of ""time" magazine" the two campaigns have raised objection saying the moderator's participation should be much more limited than she's leading people to believe. crowley has suggested she'll ask follow-up questions, which is not part of the agreed upon format. >>> as the candidates get in their final cram session before tomorrow night's debate, aides say president obama will be more aggressive, and mitt romney's camp says he'll be ready. for details, we go now to nbc's tracie potts. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, everyone. aides say that the president has seen the tape of the last debate, that he was disappointed and that he doesn't plan to make the same mistakes again. >> hello, everybody. hello. hole low. >> reporter: preside

administration is. both sides want a withdrawal in 2014. the difference here is that the romney campaign won't call it a deadline for withdrawal, but they want to withdraw in 2014. both sides support the same set of sanctions for iran. the difference is that the romney campaign may have done something different earlier and may have gone less through the u.n. and may have been more vocal about their criticism of u.n. both have the same policy on syria. the difference is the romney campaign wouldn't have gone through the u.s., wouldn't have been more vocal and supported syrian opposition earlier. on the actual policies, i don't think romney has been able to make a big contrast. in the last debate where this will come to romney to make that contrast beyond just the rhetorical differences of style and attitude, which he's clearly trying to make. >> i would love to have you both back after that last debate. it will be fascinating to see how that plays out. we've got that town hall style coming up next week. thank you, gentlemen. good to see you both. >>> what did the bosses think of biden and ryan'

out, they both say an iranian nuclear weapon is unacceptable, but i tend to think that romney would perhaps give israel the green light to bomb sooner than obama might. this is a question of nuance. i happen to wind up on the dovish side of this issue or at least the relatively dovish side and prefer obama's apparently greater restraint and patience, but i think that's the issue where i see potentially a greater disagreement, even though their beginning statement is the same. but then romney has said he'd be less concerned about a possible israeli strike. i'm quite concerned about that. i think the president is, too. >> indeed. eugene, mitt romney in his speech today suggested that the turmoil in the middle east was because, and i'm quoting him, the president has not led. but when romney's advisers are pressed for answers, they tell "the new york times" to come back on november the 7th after the election. is that leadership? >> well, no. i mean, look, let's be honest, the whole thrust of the speech was to make it sound as if mitt romney's foreign policy would be bolder and more lead

cases were not as opposed as mitt romney's were. >> i think both of them have trouble with the truth. >> i know you think that. >> both mitt romney and biden. >> romney and paul ryan. >> yes. getting my names confused today. but at the same time, i think it's really clear that at least with romney, he has some sort of command of the facts even if he doesn't use them in a truthful way. with the case of paul ryan, he clearly doesn't understand what he's talking about in the issue of foreign policy. he knows what he's talking about in the issue of economic policy. there he's not being honest about that. so when biden challenged him on iran and said that we're doing everything that netanyahu wants us to do, i've known netanyahu for 39 years, he showeds his experience. when biden talked about afghanistan and said he's been there 20 times to iraq and afghanistan, what have you done? he showed his experience. one thing he would do differently, he couldn't come up with single example other than a silly talking point about not giving russia veto power. >> right, right. all he was doing was re

. romney is 49/47 in the gw survey. both sort of paint the same picture. >>> all right. president obama is staying out of sight. they are focusing less on substance and more on style. joining me on behalf of the obama campaign, mr. mare, you are not shy. i've moderated a town hall with you, actually, during the convention. you weren't shy at all. what's your concern about the president? if you were giving the president advice, what would you be telling him? >> don't overcorrect. you can over correct. the president has severe ring rust you know what it's like being around the president. he's really not accustomed to people talking to him the way romney did after three years of running the country. i compare it to the ali fight of 1971 and frasier knocked him down. history remembers winners. he can overcorrect and he needs to predict not his likability so much. it's a very important quality but the president will do what is needed. that's why he's been down for the last few days. he understands that this is important. and it's really important to the base, chuck. while i think the president

debate, so both are tailoring to that. mitt romney is sparring with ohio senator rob partman. i'm told he's already engaged in several telephone town halls. he's had several time to prep leading up to today. those who know mitt romney say this really plays to his strength. romney's challenge is going to be match the performance he delivered in the first debate. and that gets us to president obama. he has to sharpen his performance after the first debate that many described as lack laster. the aides say they're going to adjust his strategy. they're here working on that. they will only say that president obama is again spars with senator john kerry and reading through a lot of materials to get ready for the debate. reporters who are at president obama's hotel where he's prep e preparing right now have already seen a number of advisers walking around with thick binders. so clearly preparations and practice has begun for the day. but president obama's spothers say in order to win the debate has to deliver a stronger, sharper performance. he has to answer mitt romney's attacks in a sharper

from last week hen the president had 48% and governor romney had 46%. those numbers are both well within the poll's margin of error. so we wanted to find out who is really ahead in virginia. i'm joined by brian moran, chairman of the democratic party of virginia. also cory stewart, the chairman of the prince william board of county supervisors, also a republican candidate for lieutenant governor there. let's start off, gentlemen, with listening to some sound from undecided voters in virginia. this is after the vice presidential debate on thursday. take a listen. >> i think the -- what was it, 23 million people are unemployed. i think that that's a big statistic, especially for young grads, especially young college grads. >> both have packages to create jobs. however, the jobs that are going to be created by president obama and vice president joe biden are going to be ones that are immediate jobs. >> all right, cory, let's start there. will president obama actually be able to create more jobs in virginia immediately if he is reelected? >> well, the fact of the matter is people are

that both sides misrepresented the facts. mr. romney misrepresented the facts on his medicare plan and on the president's. let me say, yes, he has to be aggressive in defining who mitt romney is. he'll use his own words. mr. 47%. i think, i think, lay out his vision in contradistinction to romney's and do so in a more aggressive way. >> i want to ask you about the enthusiasm gap particularly among latino voters. we see in our polling while the president has a huge edge in the latino vote, there's a real drop-off since 2008 when then it was 77% enthusiasm, now it is 59% in terms of hispanic americans. what you going to do to make sure people turn out? >> nare sending me all over the country. i'll be at jefferson-jackson dinner in iowa, i've been it to florida. we have surrogates all across the country. we have a grassroots campaign that has been talked about as the most aggressive, the most focused on social media and on a broad cross-section of speaking to voters. we're going to knock on doors and talk to voters, and we're going to get that vote out. i agree that our work is cut ou

morning. >> good morning. >> aren't you popular in ohio? both candidates rb there today, mitt romney will be there five of the next days and here's what reince priebus told me yesterday. >> as far as if you can win without ohio, i think you can. obviously, we're doing well out west in colorado and nevada. >> fact of the matter is, you talk to almost any republican analyst and they say ohio is critical to their success, and they wouldn't be putting their candidate there four out of the next five days in this home stretch if they didn't think they had a chance. do you think the republicans smell blood in ohio, congresswoman? >> well, no republican has actually won the presidency in modern history without ohio, so it's natural that they would be here, but more importantly, they're here because barack obama is winning ohio and ohio intends to send him back to the white house. most importantly, here in cleveland and across northern ohio, because he saved the auto industry. and one of eight jobs in ohio relates to that critical industry, which by the way, has had the highest level of sales

later, we're hearing his excuses. >> but while the romney campaign body language has changed, both are anxiously awaiting the first good post debate polls. those will give us our first look at the race after the debate and the friday unemployment report. plus, where will romney be when the results of those polls begin to come in. will he be in coin flip races in places like ohio, iowa and wisconsin? where will the president's number be? still sitting at 49 or 50 or have fallen down to 47, 48? national tracks are one thing. battleground states are another. tuesday, romney stumps virginia, then ohio with chris christie in cuyahoga falls. in three straight rallies in florida, he recounted his memories of a 14-year-old boy, david, that he befriended with leukemia. >> i sat down next to him and he said what happens next? and i spoke with him about what i believe happens next. clear eyes, full heart, can't lose. david can't lose. i love the greatness of the soul of the american people. >> david's parents, members of romney's congregation, spoke at the convention. it's one of those things tha

. the fact is they both talked about keeping the military option on the table. and they have both talked about tougher sanctions. obama administration is moving, coordinating with the europeans on tougher sanctions against iran. even as it leaves the door open to diplomacy. i'm not sure what mitt romney can do to except escalate the military option that would differentiate, be that different than what the obama administration has done. >> we also hear that in this speech today he'll emphasize the solution of a two-state solution and when we saw that videotape of a fund-raiser earlier this year, he dismissed that. how important is that in the big picture of foreign policy? >> well, at the moment, the peace process is dead and both men also talk about a two-state solution so again i'm not sure that it's one that will really differentiate the candidates. but it is true that mitt romney has a much stronger relationship with the prime minister of israel and there's almost open hostility between president obama and benjamin netanyahu. >> it does seem that often in campaigns that we talk

would like to have spending end up at 23%. romney and ryan both want it down at 20%. so there's a clear difference, and they all agree on where it should go. what gets interesting is as you dig into the detail of what gets cut, and you'll see some very, i think, fascinating differences among these guys. so on social security, as you heard president obama say in the last debate, the three guys are actually in the same place. they want to spend the same amount on social security in the next ten years. when you get to medicare, romney and ryan are in the same place, but romney actually a as you also heard him say, wants to repeal the $716 billion. it's actually $900 billion of cuts. he would spend more on medicare than ryan or obama. and then you have obamacare. >> let me ask you really quickly. if anybody has heard, let me know. has mitt romney said what he wants to do with the $716 billion? >> essentially it would be used to get his spending down to that 20% level because you're going to see in a minute, he has a bunch of other places he wants to spend money. >> spend the $716 billion. >

election, and new tonight, strong debate from both the president and mitt romney, campaign team. first, here is the campaign adviser, robert gibbs. >> it takes a long time to dig out of this avalanche of bad decisions that were before the obama presidency, one thing we see is clear, mitt romney's plan is to go back to a failed economic theory of tax cuts for the rich, despite the fact he deny attend tax cuts, and the math. and let's go to war with sesame street but give wall street a big, wet, kiss, that is call what got us into this mess, we spent four years digging out of it. >>> meanwhile, gingrich saying the numbers were good for the president, but the overall picture is still gloomy. >> i think it was a significant help to the president. imagine coming out at 8.2 following the debate, i mean people would have entered the week saying it is close to the end. so it is part of the whole process, the campaign will go down to the end. it will be one of the most interesting campaigns in american history, i think you will see it go back and forth somewhat. on friday, the imf said probably

both the husband and wife worked there. they're not going to be able to send their kids to dance lessons for god's sake. and this is mitt romney's way of making money. >> and no doubt about it. >> america has to see this, ed. america has to see this. this can't be the america we're heading to. we have to stop this from happening. >> we will continue to stay on this story. leo gerard of the steelworkers. again, a nonunion shop in freeport, illinois. the union is just speaking up for these workers. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now. good evening, rachel. great job quarterbacking the show last night. i used to be a quarterback, but i'm just your offensive lineman right now. i kind of -- i really do enjoy that, by the way. >> ed, there is nothing offensive about you anymore. thank you. it was a great night. i am so looking forward to tuesday, i can hardly stand it. usually i look forward to the weekend. now i just can't help but look forward to the next debate. >> i hear you. great job. have a great weekend. >> thanks, man, you, too. than

. >> jack kennedy lowered -- >> now you're jack kennedy? >> both campaigns are claiming victory. >> mr. ryan said that governor romney was a car guy. if they have an elevator stacked on their couch, i guess he was. >> there was one person on stage who was thought full, respect l respectful, steady and poised, the kind of person you want to turn to in a crisis and that was the next vice president of the united states, paul ryan. i see these obama rallies and they're chanting four more years. our cheer is four more weeks. >> guys, i have to say, that was easily my most favorite debate of the season so far. i think biden was the clear winner, gave democrats the shot of energy they needed, hammered them on the 47%, hammered him on lying, said the facts matter. the moment where they talked about abortion was so destructive because ryan said i'm going to make you all do what i believe in my catholic doctrine and biden said, hey, i believe this, i respect catholic doctrine but i'll let you do what you want to do and made the case that the supreme court is in the balance. but one of the things

focuses on key turning points in both candidates' political careers such as mitt romney's disastrous perform nents 1994 debate with ted kennedy and president obama's loss to bobby rush in 2000. >> the debate was watched by over 3 million people. as many people as watched a super bowl in massachusetts. romney had these expectations that he was going to win up to here, and suddenly kennedy's up to here and romney's here. the race is over. >> in the end voters decided to stick with bobby rush by a huge, huge, huge margin. it was a very bruising loss for him. >> actress stacy dash, best known nor role in the '90s film "clueless" is endorsing mitt romney. she said, quote, vote for romney, the only choice for your future. those are the things we just thought you should know. [ male announcer ] unitedhealthcare wants to know "what do you want from a medicare plan?" i just want a company that helps me get the most out of my healthcare. i want it to be simple. one plan. one card to carry. i want lower copays... and i want my drugs covered. [ male announcer ] say "hello" to more of what you wa

romney's plan is to let wall street run wild again but he's going to bring the hammer down on sesame street. >> the president has no new ideas. >> both vice-presidential candidates are practicing for thursday's debate. paul ryan is in florida after studying after four days in a woodsy virginia camp. vice president biden is at home in delaware focusing on ryan's speeches and his budget. >>> national hospital is reporting yet another death from the meningitis outbreak. if confirmed, it would be the fifth deadly case in tennessee. that is the ninth nationally. at least 105 people in nine states from minnesota to florida have been affected. the cdc now believes 13,000 people in 23 states may have received the steroid injection that's are tied to the outbreak. and while many are believed not to be at risk, those who got the shot between late june and september are being urged to get checked. >>> for the very first time, we are hearing from jerry sandusky ahead of the sentencing this morning on 45 counts of child sexual assault. the former penn state assistant football coach was convicted

not be likely to vote. >> mitt romney, paul ryan, the republican ticket. >> both campaigns use public information about who has voted early and who has not to decide where to deploy more door knockers and run more commercials. to get them early, surrogates even craft specific messages. >> early vote! find your friends! get them to early vote! >> the best thing we can do right now is bank votes. so vote absentee. >> that's a deliberate plea you hear from the gop more often than four years ago. >> in that election, all of the evidence suggests that more democrats voted early than republicans. >> shortly after, ohio's gop-controlled legislature voted to scale back some early voting. >> there's no question, but the motivation is political. >> congresswoman marsha fudge represents part of northeastern ohio, including cleveland. >> there was only a four percentage spread in the electorate. 4% of the vote, you can get that easily by taking 100 votes here, 100 votes there. >> john hew stead is the ohio secretary of state. >> you can start voting 35 days in advance, either by mail or in person

can tell you're losing. on both sides. look, last week, even during the presidential debate between president obama and mitt romney, the obama campaign tried to push on twitter the idea that mitt romney was being inappropriately testy. they tried so hard to push the testy mitt idea. they tried so hard to make that into a thing that people should feel about that debate. >> he got testy about it. he got testy about being on defense. i think that came across to the american people. >> a testy governor romney who spent the entire time on defense. >> i think for some folks at home it probably came across a little testy. >> yeah, no. nice try. i mean, maybe mitt romney was testy, at the presidential debate, and maybe joe biden did laugh in paul ryan's face all night at the vice presidential debate. but that is in part because these guys, mitt romney and joe biden, were pumped and they were pumped because they were obviously winning their debates. and complaining about that does not change that. but the other person who was pumped last night and whose performance was both winning and, ther

: with president obama and mitt romney both in ohio today, the focus is likely to shift back to the economy. >> thank you, karen. >>> all of the new numbers putting more pressure on the vice presidential candidates who debate this coming thursday night. live coverage begins at 9:00 eastern, 6:00 pacific. >>> one month of the u.s. ambassador to libya and three other americans were killed in a consulate attack in benghazi, there's word that a top white house official will visit libya today. reports say john brennan, the top white house counterterrorism adviser, will be in tripoli to meet with senior libyan officials about the investigation into the killing of ambassador chris stevens and the others. >>> and a story breaking overnight. more explosive rhetoric out of north korea this morning, warning that the united states is in striking distance of its missiles. today's remarks are in response of south korea's announcement of a deal with the u.s. to triple the range of its missiles. the north says it shows the allies are plotting to invade the country. >>> a travel nightmare seems to b

and romney on cars. he should have made the point. if we hadn't capitalized our banks, you and i both know our banking system in the country would be an unfortunately more similar position than we are in europe today. the reality is, this president has made some tough choices. he's made some different choices than mitt romney claimed he would have made as a candidate. i hope those come out. i'd love to hear mitt romney's explanation for what he would have done with regard to safing our banks, what he would have done to saving our car companies. and as much as governor romney makes the point about energy, remember, energy expiration and domestic production is higher than it's been in 50 years in this country. we're undergoing a geographic pivot. >> can i respond to that? >> most would say it's a republican, not a democrat. >> it's not happening -- it's happening on private lands, not federal lands. >> but the president could have made it more difficult by imposing regulations. >> he's taking credit for something when there's tremendous opportunity. let's talk about the banks. mitt romn

campaign on both sides. >> amen. >> is that neither side has made any significant attempt to balance the budget. and what ryan and romney are calling is outrageously stupid. what the president is doing is inadequate. >> okay. al? >> good description. nothing partisan about that description. you know, al, the governor brings up a point. i'm not sure that i agree with how he describes the two sides, but i will say that when joe biden -- let's just take these two issues right here. to talk about the stupidity of this campaign. joe biden won't even talk about raising entitlement -- your date of eligibility for entitlements one year despite the fact when fdr set the life expectancy at 62, we're now up, 79, 80, something like that. and you've got three people working for every one person getting these entitlements. and then on the republican side, this $5 trillion tax cut, the numbers don't add up. it doesn't matter what you do. the numbers don't add up. nor does the administration's belief that if you just tax rich guys, you're going to take care of the deficit. it's just -- it's nonsense. >>

-- it was every candidate on stage showed how she was taking all sides, both sides of that issue, not actually, at the time, candidate obama. >> richard haass. >> one other thing about the speech where i thought governor romney broke ground was on syria. critical of the obama administration of doing essentially very little, more than 20,000 syrians have lost their lives and he's specifically talking about upping the army of the opposition and giving them one way or the other. sort of stuff they need of the shoot down syrian planes or tanks. this would be a major step forward and basically say we're not going to get involved ourselves, but no-fly zone or lesser american boots on the ground. but if mitt romney had his way, we would lean much more forward toward arming the syrian opposition. once you give arms, you lose control, who knows whose handses they end up in. >> and by the way, as we said when we were talking about benghazi, talking about libya six months ago, who was the opposition? >> on the other hand, there was something morally wrong. a lot of people would say not getting i

, republican nominee mitt romney has a slight advantage over president barack obama in both states. in florida, romney is at 49%, obama at 46. and romney's advantage in new hampshire is four points, 50-46%. ohio is one of the key swing states for both romney and obama. both have spent a whole lot of time there talking with voters. here's cnn's political editor paul steinhauser. >> good morning, randi. it's all about the buckeye state today. >> we need your help. we've got to win ohio. you've got to get your friends to help us win ohio. >> reporter: that's why mitt romney is spending his second straight day in ohio, where 18 electoral votes are up for grabs. mr. obama won the state four years ago. now ohio is one of the states romney really needs to turn red again in order to make it to the white house. the republican presidential nominee holds two rallies in the state today and his running mate paul ryan also campaigns separately in the buckeye state. president obama was in ohio a few days ago. next week, bruce springsteen will team up with former president clinton to stump for obama i

romney is widely regarded as having won, both sides argued the other was dishonest. >> he was a little taken aback at the brazenness with which governor romney walked away from so many of the positions on which he's run. >> reporter: their truth war now on tv. >> not telling the truth about mitt romney's tax plan. >> this was dishonest. >> i'm not in favor of a $5 trillion tax cut. >> the governor knows his $5 trillion tax cut isn't too popular, so a few weeks before the election, he's trying to pretend it doesn't exist. >> reporter: president obama at a star-studded fundraising concert in los angeles sunday, heads to san francisco today with romney's poll numbers improving. >> they're looking very good. >> reporter: after the debate, reuters puts mitt romney within two points of the president. tomorrow we'll see both candidates in ohio. there's good reason for that. tomorrow is the last day voters there can register to vote. >> tracie potts in washington, thank you. mitt romney will deliver that major policy speech before noon eastern, but the obama campaign is issuing a preemptive st

margin of error. president obama 49%, mitt romney 46%. both campaigns are expressing concern about the moderator of the second debate. candy crowley will be hosting the debate, and she suggested that she'll play a larger role than agreed to by the candidates. according to "time" magazine's mark halperin, the two campaigns have raised objections saying the moderator's participation should be much more limited than she's leading people to believe. crowley has suggested she'll ask follow-up questions, which is not part of the agreed upon format. >>> as the candidates get in their final cram session before tomorrow night's debate, aides say president obama will be more aggressive, and mitt romney's camp says he'll be ready. for details, we go now to nbc's tracie potts for the latest. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, everyone. aides say that the president has seen the tape of the last debate, that he was disappointed but that he is determined not to make the same mistakes tomorrow. >> hello everybody, hello, hello. >> reporter: president obama taking a break. advisors say exp

president obama and mitt romney. both men are in intense training for tuesday's second debate, and with just 23 days left before election day, the stakes could not be higher. many believe the president needs a knockout to regain his momentum. it's "your voice, your vote." and here's abc's david kerley. good morning, david. >> reporter: good morning, bianna. the president, how serious is he taking this debate? well, he is holed up in a virginia resort for three days of debate preparation. he knows his performance could blunt romney's move in the polls. the stage is being set in new york. the ring, if you will, for the next debate round. >> i think the stakes are enormous, particularly for the president. >> reporter: round one went to romney. the second round, biden got obama back in the fight, even if his overall debate with ryan was a draw. now, with round three just days away, this morning the candidates are in their corners. mitt romney in boston. the president in williamsburg, virginia taking three days off the campaign trail, not for golf, but debate practice. that's because af

battle between president obama and mitt romney. both men in intense training for tuesday's second debate. and with just 23 days left before the election, the stakes could not be higher. many believe the president needs a knockout to regain momentum. it's your voice your vote. here's abc news reporter david curly with the details. >> the stage is being set in new york. the ring if you will. it's the next debate round. >> i think the stakes are enormous particularly for the president. >> round one went to romney. the second round obama got back in the fight withwide. now with round three just days away, this morning the candidates are in their corners. mitt romney in boston. the president in williamsburg, virginia, taking three days off the campaign trail, not for golf, but debate practice. that's because, after his first debate, the president watched the polls tighten in key battleground states with romney moving ahead in virginia in one poll. team obama tells us the president will go after romney on his tax cut plans, and his ideas for winding down the war in afghanistan. but in t

, president obama and also republican rival mitt romney will both be campaigning in the all-important swing state of ohio today as voters get their very last chance to register for that november election. meantime, both presidential and vice presidential candidates are practicing for thursday's debate. republican paul ryan is in florida today warming up while vice president joe biden is at his home in delaware. >>> happening right now at 6:03, court is in session in pennsylvania, bellefonte, pennsylvania, where it is sentencing day for jerry sandusky, the former football coach at the center of a sex scandal at penn state. this is a live look. they are awaiting sandusky to arrive. you saw plenty of media out there. sandusky leaving jail this morning, this is new video right here. sandusky is convicted of abusing ten boys connected to his charity for underprivileged youth over a 15-year span. sandusky did not speak at his trial, but he is expected to speak at today's hearing. six of the victims who gave graphic testimony will also speak today. coming up at 6:50, a live report from that

four years. >> reporter: both romney and president obama will campaign in ohio today, a key battleground state that many believe could make or break victory for either candidate. and there are 18 electoral votes up for grabs in ohio. early voting is already under way. >> here we go. tara, thank you so much. >>> controlling the deficit is one of the key issues of campaign 2012. this week, a group of bipartisan senators is meeting in virginia to try to keep the nation from falling off the so called fiscal cliff. the group of eight senators, four republicans and four democrats, is expected to meet for three days to try and reach a deficit reduction proposal that's acceptable to congress and the president. the fiscal cliff refers to budget control measures scheduled to take effect at year's end, including tax increases and spending cuts. >>> today attack now on the u.s. consulate in libya. one of the men responsible for u.s. diplomats in libya said he knew there were security issues there long before the deadly attack in benghazi. he's scheduled to testify tomorrow. sheryl atkin

and his runningmate are both in the swing state of ohio. and romney spoke to a large crowd as you can see there and hammered the president on china, jobby yaegs and the president's proposal, to increase taxes on people who make more than $250,000 a year. >> then of course he says he is going to raise taxes, does anyone really think raising taxes on anyone helps get more people to work. >> no! >> the president's plan is status quo. more of the same. he calls it forward. i call it forewarned. >> paul ryan was also in ohio today. he told voters in that manufacturing state. and it cost the manufacturing jobs. >>> commander-in-chief is getting help from the boss. bruce springsteen will be on the road this week with former president bill clinton campaigning for president obama. the two will be in parma, ohio, thursday, for a free event open to the public. president clinton is expected to speak to the crowd about the economic choice, voters face in the next month election. springsteen draws a crowd, right, there is no word on whether he will be performing during that time. it appears, tough

romney and his runningmate are both in the swing state of ohio this weekend. romney spoke to a large crowd and hammered the president on china, job creation, and taxes. >> and then, of course, he says he is going to raise taxes, does any one really think raising taxes on anyone helps get more people to work? the president's plan is status quo. more of the same. he calls it forward. i call it forewarned. >> paul ryan was also in ohio today. ryan told voters, in that manufacturing state that the president's china policies have cost the country manufacturing jobs. >>> now, to our continuing coverage of the giants playoff run. the team back in the bay area. back on the field at at & t park this afternoon preparing for the national league championship series. against the saint loop is cardinals. madison baumgartner will take the hill. coming up in a couple minutes. comcast sports net's amy gutierrez will join us from the park with more on how the team is gearing up. >> stanford football was in the national spot laegt today taking on notre dame. rest raunlts in downtown palo alto were pack

hoping biden will pull this out. >> i'm hopeful that mr. ryan will tell the truth. >> romney's coach gave his opinion as to how the next debate will go >> we didn't go after governor romney as much so i think both men will be prepared. >> reporter: biden said he's prepared. foreign and domestic policy issues will be in place. it's the only vice presidentable debate before the election. >> you can watch the debate live thursday starting at 6:00. it's being held in dan vile kentucky. >>> one of the state ballot items has to do with genetic engineering with foot. opponents say the foods are fda approved and safe. >> genetically modified foods are no different than any type of crop and that's why they don't require labeling today. >> we believe they're problematic, links to allergies and other effects showing up in studies and environmental problems. >> reporter: latest polls show it is favored by 2 to 1. >>> we told you there was plenty to do in san francisco today. the 39th annual astro street fair. many set up stages and booths. the event raises more than $75,000 every year for charit

commercial today focusing on romney's pledge to cut funding for public broadcasting. both candidates head to the heartland. tara is in washington with more on all of this. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you. negative ads are blanketing the airwaves in those key swing states, including one featuring big bird, which ridicules mitt romney after he said it's not worth borrowing money from china to fund among other things pbs. today both candidates are back out there burning up the campaign trail. president obama is urging supporters to get almost obsessive about his re-election. >> so i need you in this election the next 29 days. we cannot afford to be complacent. >> reporter: the president wrapped up a california fundraising blitz in san francisco. he asked donors to send e-mails and make phone calls to people in swing states who will decide the election. >> we have to understand that we've got a lot more to do, and if we don't do it, then change won't happen. >> reporter: republican nominee mitt romney heads to middle america today for more campaign rallies. last week's d

biggest impact. >> that is interesting. thank you very much. >> and both mitt romney kpt president took their campaigns to important battle ground states today. the president appeared in ohio urging them to register to vote and he took a shot at his opponent's vow. >> he's going to bring down the hammer on sesame street. look. that is not leadership that. is salesmanship. >> there is an ad mocking romney for the comments but the broadcaster says it's not pleased wlt message and asked the campaign to take the ad down. romney responded with his own attack autos these are tough times with real serious issues. so have you to scratch your head when the president talks about saving big bird. >> narrowing polls and strong debate last week reenergized the campaign, polls show a tightening race with just four weeks until election day. the vice presidential debate is coming up this week and you can watch it thursday here at 6:00 p.m. >> democrats who are backing drop 30 asking the woman funding prop 38 to hold off on launching television ads. and there is a political battle. >> with proposit

the senate actually pass a farm bill. >> mitt romney campaigned in iowa. both candidates are expected to take time off over the weekend before the second presidential debate. >>> president clinton campaigned for two democratic candidates. >> we have on the stage four people that believe for many different reasons that a country of we're all in this together works way better than a country of you're on your own. >> reporter: mr. clinton was in northern california to boost support for john gerimendi and mcnerney. who is also gearing votes for hernandez. >>> in some parts of our state people are already casting early ballots. if you're interested on voting by mail applications can be submitted through october 30th. if you still need to register the deadline to do so is october 22nd. >>> details of the plan were outlined today at a conference. the plan includes setting aside $1.2 million to help homeowners reset their mortgages at today's lower rate and provide counseling and legal services for homeowners. more than 10,000 homes were foreclosed on in oakland. the city council is

have to attack romney both on the record and romney was wrong about the $5 trillion tax cut and doesn't do anything for the unsinced. uninsured. and raise things that obama didn't raise for whatever reason. the 47%. george w. bush was not mentioned in the debate wednesday night. bain capital. it will be a big assault both personal and in policy terms on mitt romney from joe biden. puts paul ryan in a tricky position. he would like to go on the offensive. he is good at prosecuting that record, the debt and obama care and all that but he also has to defend romney and got to lot let biden undercut what romney did on wednesday night. >> geraldo: i read something that you wrote that suggested that romney won by being moral not just matter of fact about the issues of the economy for example. what did you mean? >> there was a key moment about 25 minutes in. they had the exchange on taxes for the first 20-25 minutes and romney did well. i think it was still in question who was really going to win the debate and then jim lehrer said let's turn to the second session on the debt. the first